A seminar on the “Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act” was organised by the Income Tax Department at Judicial Academy here today for the Punjab Vigilance officers to keep abreast with the recent amendments in the legislation.Speaking on the occasion chief guest Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, North West Region Ms Madhu Mahajan said that to provide effective regime for prohibition of benami transactions this act was amended through the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act in 2016 and it empowers the specified authorities to provisionally attach and confiscate such properties. She added that dedicated Benami Probibition Units (BPUs) have also been setup under Principal Director IT and about 300 benami properties were being attached in the country.Ms Madhu Mahajan informed that States like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have so many benami properties which were being looked into and Punjab BPU has done a commendable progress under the said Act.During his inaugural address Principal Director of IT (Investigation) Punjab and J & K, Parneet Singh Sachdev informed that since the inception of this Act in 1988 the IT department could scrutinize benami properties pertaining to more than 28 years under the legislation. Interacting with VB officers and officials he sought better coordination between the IT officers and law enforcement agencies to effectively unearth the ill gotten money and benmai properties in the state.The participants in the seminar have also discussed various impacts of the amendment and its effective implementation. Prominent among others present on the occasion included Chief Director Vigilance Bureau Punjab Mr. B.K. Uppal, Director Vigilance Bureau Punjab G. Nageswara Rao, IG Shive Kumar Verma, Rajinder Kaur Additional Director IT and Rajeev Wadhera Deputy Commissioner IT besides SSPs of various Vigilance Bureau ranges and senior officers of the Bureau.